The beginning
On the fifth of August Stephen Amell, the awesome actor of Arrow, surprised us all with this new app called 'Facebook Live'. It's a new feature with which he can live chat with his fans/followers on Facebook. As fans of him might know, Stephen is known for spending time in between filming his scenes answering questions from fans during his break. He also inspires them to make fan-art and really takes time to acknowledge the viewers. By introducing this in a five minute video he's taking it one step further. Something he's actually been in 'cahoots' about with Facebook. Not only will he answer fan questions, he's also thinking about a lot of other options to put this new feature to good use. Oh, and another cool thing? You can actually see how many people are watching! It's like a counter that keeps going up and up.
Check out his Facebookpage at: https://www.facebook.com/stephenamell
The difference
I can hear you guys thinking, what's the difference? Whether he's answering in comments below the thread, or we're listing to him and seeing him? Well, the fact that you can actually hear him say it. Of course there's always the typing thing on Facebook, which can lead to typos or it's just taking longer. But the cool thing is, that by talking to him, he can elaborate a bit more. It's like taking part in a live talk on stage during a con. Though, sure, the first vid was mainly meant as an introduction, sharing that it went live. But Stephen has already mentioned several things he'd like to do with this app and he's already put some of those ideas into action.
What have we got so far?
I can't even pick a favorite yet... Since this app was introduced, Stephen has done a twenty minute Q&A live, he's given Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak on Arrow) a gift, he's taken us to the set, having a looksy, while you can see a silhouet of Ramsey (Diggle on Arrow) walking by and he's even had a video where he shows his surroundings to encourage fans to come up to him and chat during the live chat! I mean, how cool is that? He has also mentioned live table readings, which I would just love love love to see. And I'm not theonly one. Because how many viewers have seen these? Well, one vid has about 200K viewers, another one 500K, but there's even one with 903K followers. I mean, that is insane! And I'll bet, that as words gets out, these numbers will only get higher.
Don't miss it!
One of the things I like is that as soon as he's live, you get a notification from Facebook. Therefore, if you're carrying your phone with you, it's impossible to miss it. Though yes, if you're in a meeting, like I was the first time, you might miss it. Luckily, you can still watch it back on his Facebook page. And... Stephen is also that considerate, that he'll give you a heads up on his page, so you can take it into account. Another thing I love is how Stephen keeps mentioning how many viewers there are at that exact moment. It's amazing how fast these numbers grow. Lastly, a live facebook vid will hopefully lead to some unexpected fun times as well. Because as we all know, when it's live it's out there. And a lot of stuff can go wrong, but it'll be real. Like Stephen not being able to speak (he kept messing up 'smell' and 'spell' in one of the vids). And as Stephen said: "Everything is better live."
So that's everything I wanted to say about it for now. If you're not following him right now, I can highly recommend it. I just wanted to make sure that this new app with all it's possibilities was known to everyone out there, cos it's gonna bring some amazing stuff. Especially with someone like Stephen Amell at the front of it. Now we'll just have to wait till his next one, which is tomorrow. ;-)
